Labour prospects in May elections may be irrevocably damaged by Birmingham Council’s costly refusal to settle the year-long dispute, warns STEVE WRIGHT
ISRAELI arms firm Elbit is building its business in Britain by taking top military officials for “informal suppers” and “discreet and private” dinners.
Elbit is a relatively new arms supplier in Britain. Its dinner-with-Elbit approach is very similar to the hospitality offered to officials by the more established arms firms. As a “transparency” measure, government departments list all “hospitality” given to their “senior officials.”
For the MoD, these lists cover everyone who is above the rank of “two star” meaning Major Generals or their equivalents and above. No other department records as many dinners with suppliers as the MoD.
While Hardie, MacDonald and Wilson faced down war pressure from their own Establishment, today’s leadership appears to have forgotten that opposing imperial adventures has historically defined Labour’s moral authority, writes KEITH FLETT



